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This week, Chase launched its Sapphire Checking account with a new member bonus of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after depositing $75,000 in “new money” cash / eligible investments (note: retirement accounts do not qualify) within 45 days and maintain it with Chase for at least 90 days. Note that you’ll also need a Sapphire or Freedom credit card and can’t product change away from it during the promotional period.
The Deal
- Join or upgrade to a Chase Sapphire Banking account and get 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points you bring $75,000 or more in qualifying new money or securities to a combination of eligible checking, savings and/or investment accounts, and maintain that balance for at least 90 days
- Direct link to this promotion for new accounts
- Direct link to this promotion for upgrades
Key Terms
To be eligible for this offer:
To receive the Ultimate Rewards bonus points:
- See the promotion page for full terms.
Quick Thoughts
Doctor of Credit has a pretty thorough analysis of the details of these accounts as well as the rules regarding checking account bonuses. As he notes, the smart play looks like it is to open a regular checking/savings account now for a cash bonus and then upgrade to Sapphire banking down the line (assuming a bonus is still available). If you aren’t eligible for that path, depositing $75K in new cash / investments may still be worth it for the return in points if you have the ability to do so. Just this morning, Greg noted that, for example, Delta One Suites between Tokyo and Minneapolis are available for 60K Virgin Atlantic miles each way. Since Virgin Atlantic is a Chase transfer partner, this checking account bonus would be enough to get a one-way ticket for a long flight in a nice business class product. That is of course just one example of a decent sweet spot — you might get round trip business class to Europe when Iberia runs a sale, a terrific suite at the Park Hyatt Mallorca for a few nights, or many other awards with 60K points.
That said, the requirements are obviously steep for this one. Keep in mind that you have to maintain the $75K balance for at least 90 days, irrespective of losses or gains. In other words, you’ll need to deposit more than $75K if you’re intending to keep any of that in investments to cover yourself in case of market swings. It looks like they are offering free trades via their You Invest platform at least. Also keep in mind that 529 plans and any sort of retirement account will not qualify for the $75K invested. Finally, Chase notes that they may send you a 1099 on this, so there may be a tax implication for the bonus on top of any for moving your investments.
Overall, this could be a good value if you have investments and don’t mind moving them — especially if you’re able to stack a regular new checking/savings bonus now with 60K later. See that Doctor of Credit post linked above and below for more.
H/T: DoC
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Link to promo not wor
Same. Anyone know of an updated link?
went to my local bank and banker told me i can’t get the 600 UR because I only have the freedom. This is not what the form shows and I showed it to him. anyone had similar issues?
[…] banking products also earn Ultimate Rewards points bonuses. If you can find a good signup bonus (like this one), you can earn as many as 60,000 points that way. Similar offers occasionally surface for things […]
I opened a regular Chase checking account for the $300 bonus about 8 months ago.
Is there any reason I should upgrade that one, rather than opening a new account?
I’d prefer to open a new account because that can be done entirely online and I am very lazy.
I’m also curious if there are any workarounds for Private Clients to get this? I know a few people open and close Chase saving/checking accounts regularly for the sign-up bonus, but I’m not sure if giving up Private Client status is worth it for this as they might not be as liberal letting me back in!
I was seriously considering doing the upgrade and shift from merrilledge over to You Invest platform. But the JPM You Invest platform is so basic its not even funny. No real time trading platform, no trading after hours. It’s one of the most basic trading platforms I have ever seen. How are they trying to attract people with over 100K in investments to such a basic platform? You guys should do a quick review on You Invest platform.
David,
I just had a chat with a You Invest representative today to find out more since I was considering shifting assets over and apparently their target market is new investors who are just starting out investing and want a basic trading platform. They apparently aren’t targeting experienced investors with this account which surprises me since it would appear they are trying to capture the mass affluent with the Sapphire Banking & You Invest platform from their marketing. Other interesting notes are they don’t offer mobile deposits into your You Invest account (all deposits need to be made into a Chase checking account or through ACH), there is no check writing from the account (only withdrawal method is ACH or transfer to Chase Checking), and there is only one option for the core account which is an FDIC insured savings account which supposedly pays 0.03% interest which is laughable (and probably the primary way they plan to make money from these accounts). They also do not let you aggregate data from outside firms for portfolio analysis, currently have no options trading although they are planning on adding this at a later date, offer no margin accounts, no real-time quotes, and no research. Also, unlike other firms they won’t reimburse you the account closeout fees other firms charge, and anytime you transfer out a security they charge $75 even for partial account transfers whereas most other firms only charge a fee for full account transfers or account closeouts. Lastly, they don’t offer partial account transfers online either so if you wish to transfer one or more securities out I was told a paper form needs to be completed.
Still may be worthwhile for me though since Merrill Edge starting charging $19.95 for purchase and redemption of Vanguard and Fidelity mutual funds while Chase charges no fees and Sapphire banking does have it benefits like unlimited ATM withdrawals worldwide with no fees and reimbursement of other banks fees which Bank of America doesn’t offer (only domestic ATM fees waived and reimbursed with Bofa). However, even if I do transfer funds to You Invest, I plan to keep my main brokerage account at Merrill Edge because it appears to be far more robust than You Invest. I will probably close out my Fidelity account since I do not find their platform to be super robust either although it definitely appears to be more robust than You Invest.
JC1 – worth bearing in mind also that Chase doesn’t appear to have access to Admiral class for Vanguard, only Investor. So, free trades, but you’ll pay more in fees to Vanguard if buying mutual funds. The workaround is to invest in Vanguard ETFs which usually have an Admiral Class fee structure, but then Chase doesn’t give you the option to automatically reinvest dividends. Personally, I’m keeping my bond holdings at Chase to keep my Private Client status going, all in Vanguard ETFs, and just reinvesting or using proceeds in the checking account.
I interpret the “irrespective of any losses” note to mean that market losses do NOT count against you. In other words, they would look at the net of all deposits and withdrawals in the 90-day period and see if that hits $75K.
I Googled the definition of irrespective: “not taking (something) into account.” So they would not take market losses (or gains) into account when determining whether you hit the threshold.
I haven’t asked them so I don’t know for sure, but my $0.02.
I read that differently, but I like your interpretation better. I took the key word in the sentence to be maintain – I read it to mean that you have to maintain $75K regardless of whether you gain or lose. But you could be right.
Correct, Chaae requires $75k of new money irrespective of fluctuations.